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Saturday, August 05, 2006
Priest denies altar boys rap
By Mia E. Abellana Sun.Star Staff Reporter
With Jujemay G. Awit
After the son of a police investigator complained about being hit by Santander parish priest Fr. Jovencio Rabusa, six more altar boys came forward and said they too were hit for minor offenses.
They also said four boys were molested on separate occasions, with the priest allegedly touching their private parts.
These were revealed to a Sun.Star news team yesterday afternoon in the presence of the police investigator and Santander National High School Principal Edwina Ferraren, who was shocked by what she heard.
The boys, aged between 12 and 17, said Rabusa hit all the altar boys who served in the St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Santander town in southern Cebu.
Aside from the policeman’s 13-year-old son, a 12-year-old said his ears were once twisted, while a 14-year-old said he was beaten with a mop because he was in the way of the cook who had earned the ire of the priest.
A 15-year-old boy recalled that he was kicked several times and his buttocks were pinched because he had soiled a table in the convent, while a 17-year-old said he was punched for not immediately keeping the items used in the church.
Denial
After most of them had admitted they were hit several times, they later admitted that some of them had been molested.
One of them narrated that the priest would crawl into his bed at dawn while another caught the priest touching his fellow altar boy.
One of them stopped serving after he told his parents about the abuse.
Rabusa, who was interviewed at the convent, denied harming any of the boys or molesting them.
“Wala uy (No, that did not happen),” was all Rabusa could say when Sun.Star Cebu told him of the boys’ allegations.
He said that he sometimes asked them to give him a massage and believes some of them may have misunderstood the touching.
As for last Sunday’s incident, he reiterated that he did not punch the policeman’s son but only pointed his finger at the boy’s lip.
He admitted, though, that he had a quick temper and that the incident has taught him “self control and acts of humility.”
He said he is sometimes impatient because he is hypertensive and his blood sugar increases.
Wrong booklet
The Cebu Archdiocese will look into the allegations against Rabusa, Episcopal Vicar Msgr. Esteban Binghay told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
He was “shocked” about the incident since he only heard media reports about the 13-year-old boy Rabusa allegedly hit after the boy gave him the wrong booklet during last Sunday’s mass.
But considering the fact that it came out in the papers, Binghay said, there is a need to investigate the issue.
Rabusa went to the house of the police investigator last Thursday night and apologized to the family.
He asked the 13-year-old boy to forgive him.
“I’m trying hard baya gyud,” he said, adding that most of the practices he imposed on the parish, he only followed from his predecessors.
Rabusa has been parish priest for almost six years.
17 years
Before that, he was assigned in Barangay Buanoy, Balamban.
He said he has been a priest for 17 years and has not faced such problems before.
Rabusa went to the Archbishop’s Palace yesterday morning to explain his side to Cebu Archhishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, but was told the latter was in Manila.
He had also hoped to inform media liaison officer Msgr. Achilles Dakay but he was not available yesterday.
Rabusa hopes the policeman will reconsider his plan to file a child abuse case.
In a radio dyLA report, Santander Mayor Wilson Wenceslao said he will not interfere in the problem between the boy and priest, adding that he is not on good terms with Rabusa.
Although he didn’t specifically say what it is about Rabusa he doesn’t like, Wenceslao said he doesn’t agree with some of the priest’s projects in the town.
Wenceslao said the boy’s father went to see him and informed him of his plan to sue Rabusa.
Warning
The boy’s father said they might file next week the complaint against Rabusa for violation of Republic Act 7610 or the anti-child abuse law. He said they are still preparing the affidavits of their witnesses.
For now, the family is focusing on the criminal complaint and will deal with filing an administrative complaint before the Archdiocese later.
Msgr. Binghay said the Church’s investigation will start with a verification by Rabusa’s immediate superior-bishop.
The bishop will then be expected to form a committee that will conduct a full investigation. The committee will then report the information and recommendation to Cardinal Vidal.
“Whatever comes to our attention, we verify…. We will call him (Rabusa) so he can defend himself in person,” said Binghay.
He also revealed that Cardinal Vidal has once warned Rabusa regarding an earlier complaint for not officiating the burial of someone who was not a member of the Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC).
Vidal warned all priests “not to deny burial to anyone even if he or she is not a member of the BEC.”
In an earlier telephone interview, Rabusa had said he was only trying to instill “discipline with love” in his parish.
The policeman, though, said he has made up his mind.
“Nasakitan gyud ko. Muskiteroan man gani nato ang atong anak aron dili mapaakan og lamok unya iya na nuong dapatan (I am hurt. We put up a mosquito net for our son so he won’t get bitten and then somebody hits him),” he said.
His son insisted that the priest’s fist was balled when he hit him.
Silence
Though the incident happened Sunday morning, the policeman only learned about it Wednesday night, when he noticed that his son no longer served in the afternoon masses.
The police investigator had noticed the boy’s swollen lower lip and remembered asking about it, but his son chose to remain silent.
Since the boy is athletic, the father thought he must have gotten it in a game.
The policeman said he was present during the mass when his son gave the priest the wrong booklet.
While he admitted that the crowd stood up for five minutes waiting for the priest to give the final blessing, he said this was not enough reason to hit his son.
The police investigator has also handled other complaints lodged against the priest.
Last May, a parishioner complained that she suffered contusions when the priest twisted her leg for failing to attend a meeting.
The policeman said he and his wife, a high school teacher, were active in church activities and wanted their son to serve in the church.
But after the incident, he said he will no longer allow his son to serve there.
Since he learned of the incident three days after, he could not get a medical certificate.
However, he said he plans to approach the boys who saw the incident to get their statements so he can formalize his complaint.
Worry
Some of the boys also agreed not to return to the convent.
Ferraren said she was surprised to hear of the boys’ stories, saying this was the first time she heard any of it.
She plans to talk with the priest and then inform the parents of what she heard.
The boys said they chose not to tell their parents or confront the priest because the latter would only allegedly find fault with them and hit them harder when he gets the chance.
One of them added that he came from a poor family and he had nowhere else to go. He said it was Fr. Rabusa who sent him to school.
When Sun.Star went to the convent, one of the sacristans denied the priest hurt anybody.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 4, 2006 issue)
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